Perhaps because we’ve never played them, we don’t really get many MMORPGs. WoW, where you run around doing quests, slaying rats, and pking, makes sense: those are mildly exciting activities. But other settings appear to offer simulations of banality. Star Wars: Galaxies, for example, could have worked because although everyone wanted to be a Jedi, there was a galactic war raging*, so at worst you can run around doing Storm Trooper duties – unfortunately that was still too banal, so now everyone’s either a Jedi or a dance choreographer.

The Firefly universe is a resetting of the banality, drudgery, and obliviousness of the Postbellum era. Denizens of the Inner Planets peacefully go about their lives with at most political intrigue, those on the Outer Planets are just trying to get by, even criminals would prefer a life of uninteresting times. There is only one superpower and galactic police force, so participating in a military conflict is about as exciting as being an American army clerk in Iraq, or watching the trade negotiations in Star Wars: Episode 1. Sexing this world up would destroy precisely what’s attractive about it, and that’s why it would make a horrible game.

It would be similar to playing in a game set on the Enterprise-D:

To: Crew
From: Capt. Jean-Luc Picard
Subject: State of the Ship

Dear Crew:
Many of you may have noticed through the portholes that the ship is currently ensnared in a yellow, net-like space anomaly. The Threat Level has been raised to Rainbow Yellow – all crew should be vigilant and report suspicious activity to security. The incident is being handled by our military and security crew, so there is no cause for alarm: please continue cutting hair, going to school, serving drinks, and going about the rest of your day-to-day lives. This may cause us to arrive behind schedule at our next port, please accept my apologies for any inconvenience.

Picard

* Recalling the rule that science fiction tends toward war because it’s easier to write than peace.